discussion
user1000
example2.docxWalden 2
Leila Walden
Dr. Christie Rinck
HUN 1020
3/28/2022
Looking Deeper- Contextual Analysis 2
Kara Walker is an artist known for her paper silhouettes based on topics in race, gender, sexuality, and violence. Kara was born in Stockton, California in 1969, but was raised in Atlanta, Georgia from 13 years old. She attended the Atlanta College of Art where she received an Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, and then Rhode Island School of Design where she received a Master’s in Fine Arts (Biography).
Kara was introduced to art at a very young age by her father, Larry Walker, who became a big motivator to her future career. “Walker says some of her earliest memories were watching her father draw and thinking that she also wants to be able to do that for her job,” (Rinck, 2022). Larry Walker was an artist and a chair in the art department at the University of the Pacific, although he was not the only inspiration to Kara’s artistic ambitions. When she and her family moved to Atlanta, she began to recognize issues of race, and after receiving art degrees, she began working on art forms that would raise awareness of slavery, violence, and sex (Britannica).
In this contextual analysis, I will discuss one particular piece of art by Kara Walker called A Subtlety. This was Kara Walker’s first large scale public project, and one that she notes to be one of her most ambitious. A Subtlety was built in an abandoned Domino Sugar factory. This factory was dripping in molasses. It seeped through the wood and pillars of the building, and at other times in the year, molasses would come out from under the floor and the walls. This was the result of the sugar from the refining process leaking into the air and into the wood of the factory. Kara does not focus her project on any of the factory's recent history, but instead focuses on the overall troubled history of the sugar industry especially relying on slave labor (Rinck, 2022). The factory displaying A Subtlety was in Williamsburg, New York and was demolished only months after Kara Walker created this thought-provoking piece.
As one might be able to guess, A Subtlety was a sculpture built from a form of sugar called Marzipan, or sugar paste. Its creation was much more complicated than just sugar, however. A Subtlety is considered a full round sculpture, or a three-dimensional piece. This means that the viewer could walk around the piece, seeing different proportions, articulations, focal areas, and dimensions. She created the three-dimensional look by adding layers of foam, shaving them, and then adding sugar to the surface (Rinck, 2022). A Subtlety sculpture is around 70 feet long and 35 feet tall, and it depicts a “mammy sphinx” completely naked except for a scarf around her head, with bare breasts and genitalia exposed. The term mammy means mother, or protector, but it also was a derogatory term used for black nannies in charge of white children in the early Southern U.S. Walker created this piece to represent this idea of an over-dramatized and sexualized African woman's body, and the body that would have been laboring in the Southern sugar plantations. Kara goes on to add this same symbolism in the left hand of the sculpture, where the "mammy sphinx" is holding a thick sign, or a symbol of fertility and ridicule in some cultures.
This figure also disrupts the idea that black woman can't be sexual on their own terms, and that they need to suppress their right to be sexual. Walker not only creates this to be fierce symbolism of oppression and sexuality, but she also adds symbolism of power and strength. The "mammy sphinx" is both political and complex. It has been a representation of sexuality throughout history, but Walker also uses it in a way to show the difference between what is considered the ideal white woman and the unattractive black woman, showing the oppression that women have seen for years and the power and strength they possess (Rinck, 2022).
The social angle that I most apply to this sculpture is colonialism. A Subtlety incorporates this theme of race, sex, and history throughout every aspect of the sculpture, including the materials used to build it. Sugar was a luxury product, and the "backbreaking toil and dangerous labor" required to manufacture refined sugar was given to slaved laborers. The factory workers who worked in the assembly-line were generally slave children, who had to work night and day to keep up sugar production at its highest efficiency (Muhammad, 2019). Sugar itself was even highly racially stigmatized, and the kind of sugar you used would be tied to your race. It was seen that Europeans would consume crystallized white sugar, whereas brown sugar was consumed by dark-skinned, usually African, people (Rinck, 2022).
Kara Walker created A Subtlety inspired by her own experience as an African American woman living in the Southern U.S, which goes to show that the piece contains many social, cultural, and historical implications. This piece has major historical implications in the way that it represents the dark history of sugar and slavery. It reminds people about what was and what never should be again. It also contains major cultural and social implications, especially for African American women, as it raises awareness to the idea that women today are still sexualized, still powerful and still strong. Although the sculpture was only up for a few months, it had a major impact on the way people view sugar production not only as racial, but also a reminder on how humans should treat each other moving forward.
The aspect of A Subtlety that I will go more into depth on is the full round technique that Kara Walker uses. As mentioned before, a full round sculpture is one that is created to be three-dimensional and can be looked at from any angle. This also means that the viewer has to walk all the way around in it order to see the whole piece, as well as see how different aspects of the piece play with the overall theme. Artists may use this technique to encourage the viewer to follow the parts of the sculpture that seem to disappear or lead to the next aspect (Rinck, 2022).
Kara Walker had many aspects of A Subtlety that could not be seen at a first glance, including the brown sugar babies surrounding the sculpture, the importance of the exposed genitalia, bare breasts, and sphinxlike structure of the main sculpture. The full round technique played important roles in pushing the viewer to become a part of the piece, experiencing it in real life and not just from one angle. I think this full round technique could also symbolize looking for a deeper meaning. While the piece is of a “mammy sphinx” it also represents history, race, and sex, things that may not be recognized at first glance.
The second piece I chose to compare to A Subtlety was The Statue of Liberty. This statue is one that I’m sure most have heard of and many have seen. I chose this piece as another example of a full-round sculpture technique, but also as a representation of forgotten history and deeper meaning.
https://www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm
The Statue of Liberty was created by French sculptor Fredric-Auguste Bartholdi and Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. It was given to the United States as a gift of friendship and was dedicated by President Cleveland in 1886. This statue is on a small island, Liberty Island, in Upper New York Bay. It is known to symbolize freedom and democracy, although many forget its true origin and first symbol (History.com Editors).
The Statue of Liberty was given as a gift from the French towards the end of the American Civil War to celebrate the United States building an efficient democracy. It was a joint effort, as the French built the statue, and the Americans built the pedestal- creating a symbol of friendship between the French and Americans. It's not often that we speak about this Franco-American friendship, but I thought this symbol was an interesting one to bring up as a comparison to other forgotten history (Symbolism).
I think the Statue of Liberty can represent postcolonialism, the opposite of A Subtlety. The Statue of Liberty represents new times, liberty, and freedom, and I find it interesting that it was also created towards the end of the war that also began the end of slavery in the United States, another definition of a new time. I see it as representing new friendships, that with the French, and the African Americans.
Post colonialism refers to changes in culture, which I believe the Statue of Liberty represents perfectly. Not only was this statue created at the end of the Civil War, but it was also created at the same time as the centennial of the Declaration of Independence, another major contributor to the changes in culture for America. We all know that the American Civil War had major social, cultural, and historical implications. The first being the beginning of the end of slavery, which was social, cultural, and historical. While the Statue of Liberty was not created because of the end of slavery, it still represents the idea that new friendships, freedoms, and liberties can be created through the combined efforts of people with different backgrounds.
https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Statue-of-Liberty/Photos-of-statue-of-Liberty.php
The Statue of Liberty represents the opposite of what A Subtlety does, and I think that’s why both have such major impacts today. The Statue of Liberty represents what should be, what could be, and the history that change is entirely possible. A Subtlety, on the other hand, shows that just because change happened once, doesn’t mean that the issue was resolved, or that it can’t be resolved further.
Both impact the idea of postcolonialism, and that there should be a change of culture. Women of all races should be treated with respect and should be allowed to express themselves in whatever way they want. Friendships should be built across races and peoples, and the history of those friendships should not be forgotten. This symbolism contained in art has such an incredible impact on people and how they view history as well as how they move forward in their being. It inspires people to change their behaviors and thoughts for the better and pushes those who experience things like racism and sexism to take a stand or reach out. In the case of these two art pieces, both symbols, one of friendship and one of slavery, represent times in American history where times changed. Hopefully both pieces can be a reminder to us to remember our history and make some not so subtle changes going forward in standing united with all peoples.
Word Count: 1772
References:
“Biography.” Kara Walker, http://www.karawalkerstudio.com/biography.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Kara Walker". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Nov. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kara-Walker.
History.com Editors. “Statue of Liberty.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2 Dec. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/landmarks/statue-of-liberty.
Muhammad, Khalil Gibran. “The Barbaric History of Sugar in America.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/sugar-slave-trade-slavery.html.
Rinck, Christie. “Representation and Power in Art.” Kara Walker's "A Subtlety": Lectures and Readings, 2022, https://usflearn.instructure.com/courses/1643138/pages/kara-walkers-a-subtlety-lectures-and-readings?module_item_id=24621757.
“Symbolism of the Statue of Liberty.” Wonders of the World, https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Statue-of-Liberty/Symbolism-of-the-statue-of-Liberty.php.
